VeriSign Board of Directors Elects William A. Roper, Jr. as CEO and Edward A. Mueller as Chairman

By Derek Iwasiuk
DomainInformer.com
May 29, 2007

VeriSign, Inc., the leading provider of digital infrastructure for the networked world, announced that its Board of Directors has elected William A. Roper, Jr. as President and Chief Executive Officer. He has served as the Board’s lead independent Director and replaces Stratton D. Sclavos, who resigned from the company. The Board also elected Edward A. Mueller as Chairman of the Board.

Roper, who has served as a Director of VeriSign since November 2003, will become a full-time employee of VeriSign. He most recently served as Executive Vice President of Science Applications International Corporation (NYSE: SAI), a diversified technology services company. He also served as SAIC’s Chief Financial Officer from 1990 to 2000, and played a leadership role in Network Solutions from the time of its acquisition by SAIC in 1995 until its merger into VeriSign in 2000. Network Solutions included the domain name registry business that is central to VeriSign’s business.

“VeriSign is a highly respected company with an attractive business model and leading positions in growing markets. The board remains committed to our strategy, and is pleased with the early results of the restructuring program we began this year,” said Roper. “I look forward to working with VeriSign’s management team to capitalize on the company’s growth opportunities while ensuring the strongest possible emphasis on managerial discipline and execution.”

The company’s principal operations continue to report to:

• Mark D. McLaughlin, Executive Vice President of the Products, Marketing, and Customer Care organization. He is responsible for VeriSign's product strategy, product management, product development, corporate and product marketing, and customer care. Since joining VeriSign in 2000, he has served as Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Information Services Division; Senior Vice President, Deputy General Manager, Registry Services; Vice President, Corporate Business Development; and Vice President, General Manager, Payment Services.

• John Donovan, Executive Vice President of Global Sales and Services, who is responsible for VeriSign's global sales and consulting organization. He joined VeriSign when, in 2006, it acquired inCode Wireless, of which he was Chairman and CEO. Previously, he served as a partner of Deloitte Consulting and as Americas Industry Practice director for telecom.

• Aristotle Balogh, Chief Technology Officer and head of Global Product Development, who leads all areas of product development and technology deployment. Balogh previously served as Executive Vice President of Operations and Infrastructure and as Vice President of Engineering for the VeriSign Global Registry Service. Before joining VeriSign, Balogh held a variety of management and engineering roles at SRA Corporation, UPS’s Roadnet Technologies, and Westinghouse Electric Corporation.

• Bob Korzeniewski, Executive Vice President for Corporate Development, who is responsible for providing a consistent strategy and focus for investments and merger-and-acquisition activity. Under his leadership, the Company has completed approximately 40 acquisitions and extended its strategic relationships with key technology partners. He served as CFO of Network Solutions from 1996 until its merger with VeriSign in 2000.

Mr. Mueller, who joined VeriSign’s Board in March 2005, is the former CEO of Williams-Sonoma, a specialty retailer. In 1968 he joined SBC Communications (now AT&T) and served as chief executive of several business units, including Ameritech from 2000 to 2002, SBC International Operations from 1999 to 2000, Pacific Bell from 1997 to 1999 and Southwestern Bell Telephone Company from 1994 to 1997.

“We thank Stratton Sclavos for all he has accomplished for VeriSign,” said Mueller. “Over the last 12 years, he helped establish VeriSign as a global corporation that millions of consumers and businesses rely upon every day as they interact on the world's voice and data networks. We wish him continued success in the future.”

Sclavos said, “I want to thank the people of VeriSign for their support and contributions over the past 12 years. I am proud of my role in building VeriSign into the great company it has become, and wish all of my associates the very best in the coming years.”

As previously disclosed, the review of the company's historical stock option grant practices by an ad hoc group of independent members of VeriSign's Board of Directors is substantially completed. The review did not find intentional wrongdoing by any current member of senior management, including Sclavos.

VeriSign’s 2007 Analyst Day, previously scheduled for June 6 at VeriSign's corporate headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., has been postponed until a later date.

Today’s Conference Call

VeriSign will host a live teleconference call today at 5:30 am (PDT) to introduce Roper and Mueller. The call will be accessible by direct dial at (800) 819-9193 (US) or (913) 981-4911 (international). A listen-only live web cast as well as a replay will also be available at http://investor.verisign.com. A replay of this call will be available at (888) 203-1112 or (719) 457-0820 (passcode: 6114819) beginning at 7:00 am (PDT) on May 29 and will run through June 1. This press release is available on the Investor Relations section of the VeriSign website at http://investor.verisign.com.